Reader feedback July 10: Road rules, Soviet cosmonauts

July 10, 2014

Rules of the road

Dorothy, Hampton: I'm calling about the article you have on the rules of the road on Page A5 of the July 6 edition. I think it's a very good article. I wish you'd have it in the paper more. Maybe it would help people pay attention to what's going on in the road.

Editor: Thanks Dorothy. We spend a lot of time in our cars — many of us, every day — so you would think our knowledge of the rules would be excellent. Unfortunately, we all see daily examples to the contrary. Reporter Cathy Grimes felt she could write about a few of the lesser-known or misunderstood laws and bring a bit of enlightenment to our area's road warriors taking a break from the commute during the long holiday weekend.

I'm happy you enjoyed the piece, and we will consider whether a sequel is warranted.

Soyuz 11

George, York County: In the June 30 almanac on Page A2, it said in 1971 three Soviet cosmonauts were found dead when their Soyuz capsule returned to Earth. Was it ever determined how they died, or why they were dead?

Editor: The cosmonauts of Soyuz 11 — Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev — spent more than three weeks in orbit in June 1971, breaking the record at the time for space flight duration. However, a malfunction when undocking with Soviet space station Salyut 1 caused depressurization of the capsule and suffocation of the crew. The automated re-entry procedure returned the capsule safely to Earth, where the recovery team found Dobrovolski, Volkov and Patsayev still strapped into their seats but victims of an open valve in the pressureless environment of space.

The three are commonly cited as the only humans to perish outside of Earth's atmosphere.

Today's Feedback responses were written by Assigning Editor Ryan Gilchrest.